This invention relates to knock-down shelving systems primarily for use in homes wherein either a free standing or a wall-hung shelving system can be manually assembled by a consumer in accord with his or her desires.
There are presently available many different types of knock-down shelving systems capable of being assembled into various configurations in accord with a consumer's desires. In some of these known systems, shelves and shelf separating supports such as leg supports are simply secured together by frictionally interfitting parts. Others require the use of screws or bolts and thus tools such as a screwdriver or pliers for assemblying the same.
In the case of interfitting friction parts, while assembly can normally be carried out manually without the need of tools, once the shelving system has been assembled, there is always the possibility of the same falling apart when attempting to move it from one location to another; for example, as by grasping the top shelf. In the case of those types of shelving systems secured by screws or bolts, while a mechanically reliable final structure results which can readily be moved from one location to another without risk of the same falling apart, should the user wish to rearrange the shelves or simply disassemble the shelving arrangement, screwdrivers, pliers, or equivalent tools are usually necessary and the operation is somewhat time consuming.
It would be highly desirable if a versatile type shelving system could be provided capable of a free standing configuration or a wall-hung application which could readily be assembled and disassembled by a consumer without the need of tools and yet when once assembled is sufficiently mechanically locked that the assembly can be moved from one location to another without fear of the component parts becoming separated.